Contributors to this issue:
Louis Armand:
See his website http://www.louis-armand.com
David Edward Barnes:
Born in 1943 in New South Wales, Australia, he began writing at 18, when he took up folk guitar, song writing and performing around mainland Australia and Tasmania. He worked as a carpenter in Melbourne, leaving for the bush in the early 60's. He worked as a real estate agent for 24 years until the death of his wife, becoming a full-time writer in 1996. He has been published in Australia, the US and England. His work has appeared in Paris/Atlantic: an International Journal of Creative Work, Spring 2000 issue. He is also the publisher of Poetry Downunder, an online poetry site in Perth, Australia.
John Blackwood:
Who am I? 59, British, ex-Civil Servant, ex-Architectural Draughtsman, Interior Designer, Graphic Designer and Furniture Maker, currently resident in South East Italy, as far down on the right hand side as you can go. Look for Lecce on the map.
I moved here in '98 after spells back in the UK, Czech Republic and Turkey. Prior to that there had been 11 years in Italy in the 80s and early 90s and, back to the 70s, 6 years in Franco's Spain.
How come? English Language teaching is the day job. Now.
So, from writing role plays, simulation, comprehension text and stories for classroom use, a bit of creative writing isn't a huge leap. Other short fiction is in the pipeline.
The big one - a 500 page noir set in Southern Italy - is two chapters short of completion.
Other interests include the obvious British ball sports - Football, Rugby and Cricket - Architecture and Heraldry. Eating out and travel are not interests; they are the sine qua non of life.John Blackwood.
Via San Francesco d'Assisi, 40
I-73047
Monteroni di Lecce
Italy
Philip Hyams work has appeared in Offcourse in the Fall 1999 Issue.
David Matthews Mitchell is the pro-bono curator of the Miriam Snow Mathes Historical Children's Literature Collection of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University Libraries, State University of New York in Albany. He has written and translated poetry for many years and is currently working on Dante's Commedia.
Elisha Porat's work, translated from the Hebrew by Alan Sacks, has appeared numerous times in Offcourse. We have included reviews of his work in the Summer 2000 issue. His collection of short stories, "The Messiah of LaGuardia", is especially relevant in the context of the current war in Israel.
Durlabh Singh:
I am a poet based in London, England and have been widely published, with
two solo collections to my name also. My aim is to revitalize english poetry with new
expressions and structures.